Table 3. Patterns of utilization of healthcare services among attendees seeking consultation for alcohol and substance use at Al Masarra Hospital, Oman, from June 2013 to June 2014.

Characteristic	Total (N = 293)	Younger (< 30 y) (N = 126)	Older (≥ 30 yrs) (N = 167)	P value
	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)
Visits to healthcare services				0.08
Total	697 (100)	247 (100)	450 (100)
Outpatient	272 (39)	112 (45)	160 (35)
Emergency	272 (39)	103 (42)	169 (38)
Admission	153 (22)	32 (13)	121 (27)
OPD Attendance				0.56
Regular	228 (78)	96 (76)	132 (79)
Irregular	65 (22)	30 (24)	35 (21)
Emergency attendance				0.70
Attended	171 (58)	108 (86)	63 (38)
Never attended	103 (42)	18 (14)	85 (51)
Admission				0.54
Ever admitted	162 (55)	90 (71)	72 (43)
Never admitted	131 (45)	36 (29)	95 (57)
Reason for last emergency visit				0.56
Relapse	111 (38)	54 (43)	57 (34)
Overdose	13 (5)	10 (8)	3 (2)
Run out of medications	79 (27)	36 (29)	43 (26)
Suicidal attempts	30 (10)	16 (13)	14 (8)
Others	60 (20)	24 (19)	36 (22)
Reasons for last admission				0.92
Relapse	138 (47)	64 (51)	74 (44)
Overdose	22 (7)	10 (8)	12 (7)
Severe depression	38 (13)	22 (17)	16 (10)
Suicidal attempts	22 (7)	12 (9)	10 (6)
Others	73 (25)	36 (29)	37 (22)
Health service barriers
Other thinking	94 (32)	44 (35)	50 (30)	0.36
Treatment failure	87 (30)	40 (32)	47 (28)	0.50
Confidentiality	79 (27)	39 (31)	40 (24)	0.06
Appointment availability	68 (23)	32 (25)	36 (22)	0.21
Family reaction	67 (23)	34 (27)	33 (20)	0.14
Colleague trust	66 (23)	35 (28)	31 (19)	0.05
Lack of information about services	62 (21)	30 (24)	32 (19)	0.33
Service accessibility	60 (20)	26 (21)	34 (20)	0.95
Appointment waiting time	53 (18)	23 (18)	30 (18)	0.83
Lack of personal time	41 (14)	30 (24)	11 (7)	0.03
Perception of outcome of service				0.62
Improved	199 (68)	87 (69)	112 (67)
No improvement	94 (32)	39 (31)	55 (33)